A vintage car is not the only bit of class at this €795,000 Rathcooney mansion

Beautifully landscaped gardens are the perfect foil for this luxurious home

Sun, 05 Jun, 2022 - 07:06

Catherine Shanahan

Rathcooney, Co Cork
€795,000
Size	319 sq m (3434 sq ft)
Bedrooms	5
Bathrooms	4
BER	B3

ON the face of it, Timaru, a mansion in Rathcooney, has nothing in common with a major cargo port on New Zealand’s South Island, also called Timaru.

It’s all in the name though, as is often the case. Timaru, derived from the Maori ‘Te-Tihi-o-Maru’, means “place of shelter”, and at its most basic level, it’s what this home is.

There’s very little else though that is basic about Timaru, which is big enough to shelter a small army. More than twice the size of a standard 3-bed semi (almost 3,500 sq ft) and on enough land to gallop a pony (1.6 acres), there is, to paraphrase the naturalist and writer Gerald Durrell, more than enough room for family and other animals.

“We had four children and numerous animals over the years – ponies, cats and dogs, you name it,” the owner says. And they had a paddock and some stables to boot.

They chose Rathcooney for their home as the woman of the house was a local and they chose the name Timaru because it had stuck with the owner after he travelled around New Zealand in the early 1990s. After buying the site, they hired now-retired architect Peter Buckley to design their dream home and for their very large garden, they went to the late artist and landscaper Brian Crosse.

“He did the design but we literally planted everything ourselves,” the owner says. Everything they planted has matured beautifully in the intervening years, from the bank of hydrangeas brought up from West Cork on the front lawn, to a dramatically droopy Weeping Cypress bought in the midlands, to the spectacular rhododendron plants.

There’s growth in every direction so that the site is very private, largely screened by trees.

It’s in at the back of a cul de sac too, called Oakridge, off Rathcooney Road, so through-traffic is not a problem. There’s no more than a handful of homes in the cul de sac, all spread out, all upscale, all on fine sites.

The owner says what they loved about their home at 3 Oakridge was the space and the quiet.

“We brought up our family here and there was just so much space. And as they grew up, the house could take it,” he says.

Along with Timaru’s ability to adapt to changing needs, what they also appreciated was the tranquility.

“The quietness is one of the things that we enjoyed the most. And even though it was very quiet, we were still only five minutes from Glanmire,” the owner says.

The site aspect was another positive. A king-sized patio to the rear faces south and can accommodate multiple seating areas.

Accessed via double doors from a large sitting room that runs the depth of the house (24’4” x14’4”) and also from the conservatory, it’s a terrific-looking outdoor dining space – even though you are already spoilt for choice inside, as there’s a large open-plan kitchen diner with central island units and breakfast bar, not to mention a formal dining room, which is slightly split level from the kitchen, at a step down. It’s the ideal indoor/outdoor set-up for entertaining/keeping guests circulating.

You could say there’s a surfeit of rooms downstairs, because in addition to the four already mentioned, there’s a lounge (17’ 4” x 17’ 4”) and a TV room/den, as well as a very generous reception hall, a ground floor WC and a utility room.

Oh, and there’s a ground floor bedroom too, with another door to the patio.

The remaining four bedrooms are overhead, of which the largest has an ensuite and a dressing room.

The other three share a bathroom. Overhead again is the fully floored, plastered and painted attic area, measuring a massive 42’7” x 15”5’, with two velux windows, so even if all five bedrooms were required for family members, working from home options still abound.

Actually, even if you do need to work from home, you don’t have to be at home per se, as there’s a fully fledged home office on a separate part of the grounds. This 930 sq ft two-storey building, tucked in among the trees, is also currently used as a home gym. Future uses are at the discretion of new owners.

There’s tonnes of space for parking too and the current owners made good use of it. There’s a passion for vintage cars in the family, and there’s a British classic owned by a member of the extended family, a 1955 MG TF. It’s a touch of luxury which sits nicely with the overall look of Timaru (spot it in the pictures), which selling agent Sean McCarthy of ERA Downey McCarthy describes as “a truly stunning residence...in magnificent, mature gardens”.

“It’s an excellent opportunity for prospective buyers to acquire a family home in showhouse condition in a most convenient location,” he says of Timaru, which he brings to market with an AMV of €795,000.

He points out that while enjoying “countryside views and a rural setting” it is nonetheless just 2km from Glanmire village and about 6km from Cork city centre.

VERDICT: You won’t be stuck for space at this luxury family trade-up, set in superbly landscaped grounds.